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RTPI members join key European body.

15 June 2016

The ECTP-CEU comprises 25 professional planning institutes from all over Europe. It is an umbrella association which sets standards of education and conduct for the planning profession; identifies, celebrates and rewards examples of good planning all over Europe, and engages in dialogue with local, national and European governments.

Janet Askew said:

“The RTPI has played a very important role in helping to shape and influence the work of the ECTP-CEU over many years. I am delighted to be joining an organisation that is now regarded as the voice of planning in Europe.”

Janet Askew is the immediate past President of the RTPI. For more than 25 years, she has worked at the University of the West of England, where for seven years she was the head of the Department of Planning and Architecture. Prior to this, she worked in the public and private sectors in Scotland and England, and during her university work, has always taken a keen interest in Europe, teaching in a number of universities across several countries. She is active in various teaching and learning networks across Europe, and is also a member of the European Platform of Experts in Planning Law.

John Downey said:

“It is an honour to be able to help the RTPI lead the way in arguing for better planning internationally. The ECTP-CEU has a big agenda with some very important issues such as climate change, initiatives to develop young planners, and increasing democratic participation in planning.”

John Downey is a Chartered town planner of the RTPI and also a member of the Irish Planning Institute (IPI). His twenty year career to date has being in senior planning roles both in the public and private sectors which has spanned Ireland, England and mainland Europe. He heads up the planning and architecture teams in his own multi-disciplinary practise in Dublin which works both in Ireland and the United Kingdom. He is the current Chair of the RTPI Ireland Branch, committee member on the Institute's Policy, Practice and Research Committee (PPRC), and a former elected member on the RTPI’s General Assembly.

The RTPI has two representatives on the ECTP-CEU; one for the UK who reports to the Institute’s International Committee and one for Ireland who reports to the Irish Executive Committee, as well as feeding into the International Committee.

Current representatives Vincent Goodstadt and Noel Riordan will continue to represent the RTPI until the beginning of 2017 and the middle of 2017 respectively. Janet and John will act as substitutes if needed.

What the ECTP-CEU does

Planners are enablers and specialists in spatial analysis and interaction, committed to working with other professionals across disciplinary boundaries to advance the sustainable development of the both the natural and the built environment.

The current work of the Council includes:

• Dissemination of the revised New Charter of Athens on planning European cities in the 21st century; • The design of a Vision enhancing the quality and efficiency of cities and urban life in Europe; • The production of a guide to spatial planning and territorial cohesion; • The publishing of the proceedings of major conferences on European spatial development and the preparation of forthcoming conferences; • The preparation of the European Urban and Regional Planning Awards.